Dielectric Testing of Gas Mixtures with Air, Volatile Organic Compounds and Carbon Oxides

The present work summarizes the results obtained while testing a rod-to-plane gap with switching-like voltage impulses different in gas mixtures. Gas mixtures including technical air, carbon monoxide and dioxide, benzene, toluene, and ethanol were tested. A sealed chamber was used for the high voltage testing of a rod-to-plane gap with switching-like voltage impulses. For all gas mixtures tested, an increment of the 50% breakdown voltage <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$(\boldsymbol{U_{50\%}})$</tex> with respect to the reference gas (technical air) was measured, up to 38% for the gas mixture with carbon oxides. A higher <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\boldsymbol{U_{50\%}}$</tex> with respect to the technical air was measured for all tested gas mixtures, for both polarities. The estimated streamer inception voltage for the gas mixtures containing carbon oxides was below the measured breakdown voltages.